Last Minute Shopping more than procrastinating

As the song goes, “it’s beginning to look like Christmas”, but in retail that verse means a whole other thing. Workers at many of the stores in the Desert Southwest are working longer hours in many cases working overnight. The reason? A special breed of shopper; one that combats long lines and hunts for parking. As in years past we enjoy tracking down those who enjoy the thrill of shopping in the trenches.

We took to the Yuma Palms Regional Center where we found a few shoppers who weren’t strangers to last minute shopping. In most cases the trek to the mall on Christmas Eve was more than a necessity, but a family tradition. One shopper told us that he finds that it’s easier to shop last minute, pointing out that he found a parking spot right in front of the store.

A mother-daughter team took to the mall to find last minute gifts; the daughter laughed as she told us that she had forgotten to buy a gift for her father and hoped to find something he’d enjoy. Another shopper appeared to come prepared wearing camouflage or it may have just been a coincidence; he told us that this is the best way shop telling us “it gets you in the spirit of things”.

Regardless if it was intentional or last minute those shoppers we spoke to said that they enjoy the thrill of last minute shopping and don’t see themselves ever changing.